There Are Always Others
by Samfan4
Summary: It is exactly one year after Neo vanquished Agent Smith. Three teens, Justin, Mike, and Lena, now fight to survive in the Matrix. Little do they know, that the ride is going to get a lot wilder. After a regular important mission, weird things begin to happen. Join Morpheus, Justin, Mike, Lena, and the 5th Waves Cassie, as they try to solve the mystery, and fight to survive.
1. New Generation

**Summary:** The year 2019. The war with the machines is more severe than ever. Zion has been sieged and pulled through a total of three times. Machine City is all but decimated by the bombing runs, but the resistance's bombing fleet is pretty much gone. Three young kids are struggling to find their place in Zion. Unfortunately, things are about to get a lot worse.

Justin woke up with a start. Remembering where he was, he calmed down. Things had been very different ever since he entered the real world. He had barely any hair, the food was bad, but at least he was with friends, Mike and Lena. For his whole life he had lived in a computer world called the Matrix. There, his family was rich, he was popular, and he had all his hair. Why he wanted to come to the real world, was because he wanted a new life. Mike and Lena, came, not because they needed to, but because they wanted to. He was sure though, that if any of them knew what this was like, they would've stayed in the Matrix.

He couldn't stop thinking about who was before him though, why him? After they were rescued, they heard the stories of Neo, the one. He had sacrificed his life for so many, yet the war with the machines was still raging. Agent Smith was gone, but there were still more, and no one knew how to stop them. Justin always imagined himself, fighting alongside Neo, and finding another way to destroy Smith. The fighting had also killed Dover, Tank, trinity, Apoc, Switch, and Mouse. Mouse was his favorite, he didn't know why really, but he was for some reason.

He also felt out of place in the crew. Him and his friends were the youngest, all at age 15. Everyone one else was at least 25. He wanted to get into the Matrix and do epic skills and kill baddies. As soon as he thought, Morpheus walked in.

 **Zion**

BOOM! Justin sat up and smacked his head on the ceiling.

"Owe!" he said, massaging the point of impact.

"What's going on?" he heard Lena saying. Mike, meanwhile, had hurriedly pulled out his rifle from under his bunk. Justin did the same.

Another shock rocked the building: dust clouds began to billow…

The door burst open: three humanoid figures covered in mechanized parts came in and began to fire assault rifles in random directions. Justin took the opportunity to roll off his bunk and onto the floor with a massive THUNK! He bit his lip to ignore the pain, and took aim and fired.

One android down.

Meanwhile, Mike was bleeding from his stomach and Lena had taken down one android. The last one ran towards Mike, raising a spiky point on it's arm… Before Justin shot its head off.

"Woohoo! Yeah!" cheered Lena. That was when the Androids started assembling.

"Um… get Mike and run!" yelled Justin.

After a few hours, they were safe. Justin never thought when he would have such a terrifying experience, and he knew he would have some more. Whatever those things were, they were most assuredly going to come back.

In a few minutes, they would start their training for the Matrix. They were all excited, but Justin was the most. Ever since he came here, all he wanted was to fight in there. Jump across buildings, use any gun, wear cool awesome clothes... Suddenly, Lena knocked on his door. "You ready Singe?" "Yeah, he answered, be there in a minute. "Hurry up, I'm growing impatient." Justin remembered his nickname in 9th grade, Singe. He betted that that was his name here. Mouse, Neo, Tank, Switch, Dozer, those didn't sound at all like real names. "I'd better get over there," he thought. But when he got there, it was nothing like he imagined. It was only a computer screen and a few chairs. "Ready? Morpheus asked. Justin, Mike, and Lena nodded their heads shyly.

In the Game or whatever it was _,_ they were heroes. Kung fu, Karate, and gun training, all that he wanted to do. There was also the educational part where Morpheus told them about what happened to the real world, and what agents were. Justin was very disappointed because he had wanted to fight them. But apparently, they were unstoppable. They also got to jump buildings. At first they fell a lot, but then could leap across building like it was nothing. I felt like Superman. We learned that the Matrix was just an extent of your mind. I believed him and this meant that we could literally do anything, as long as we kept focus on it. We also picked out the right guns for ourselves. I chose dual wield Uzis, Tac-45's, Fully auto Shotguns, and the M1887 Shotgun. How I carried all these guns, I could never figure out. My clothes were a batman t-shirt, black jeans, and a leather jacket. I could tell from one look that Mike really liked Neo, he had black everything, and a trench coat, and was picking the same weapons Neo used, except for the M-60 (not sure how that was going to work.) But within a few days, we were ready.

 **Mike**

Mike had always been best friends with Justin. Since 2nd grade, all the way until now, they had the best of times. Lena often had tagged along. She came to Brooks Elementary in 4th grade. Everyone was jealous of her because she was the smartest kid in the class. Mike and Justin took advantage of that and let her teach them. They rode bikes, had sleepovers, watched movies, played video games and (obviously) went to school together. Justin's house was amazing. His dad was rich, so he lived in a huge house. Once they got the whole class together and played tag and hide and go seek there. But, as it seemed, all that was fake. But it seemed so real. Morpheus had told them earlier that what they lived in was the Matrix. Mike was all fascinated, mostly with Neo. Neo had saved Zion once, and Mike wanted to be just like him. He wanted to be popular and have everybody like him, he wanted to be the hero. He felt though that he was too late in the game for that. For weapon picking, he tried to impress Lena by going with an M-60, though he was curious how he could hide it on stealth missions. But for his clothes, it is not what he wanted. He was wearing camo pants, red bandana, and a tan tank top. Because he was thinking of an M-60, he had to look like Rambo. But he always thought, that whatever the challenge, he could push through. Now, he wasn't so sure. His nickname was Macho.

 **Lena**

Lena was always the smart girl. Everyone thought she liked being the best, but she really didn't. Her Mom and Dad made her study all the time, that's why she wanted to get out of the Matrix, so she could get away from all of that. And, it turns out, she never had any parents, according to Morpheus. There was one good thing about living in the Matrix, Justin and Mike. There were her best, and mainly only friends. Whenever her Family came over to visit, they would always quiz her on any question they could come up with. Eventually, she would just get some food, run up to her room, and barricade the door. At least for her, she lived a bad life. The only good memories of the Matrix were spending time with Justin and Mike. But even they only knew half of what she felt like. She had never shared all her feelings with them. In the training, she was very excited. She chose blue jeans, a coat like the one she had, and a shirt that said "Girl Power" on it. Everyone on the ship had nicknames, except for her. She finally chose though, that hers was Aspect. She liked the sound of it, Aspect. Justin's was cool to, Singe. Mike had chosen a not as cool name though, Macho, he was anything but that, not to be rude. She wanted to be like Apoc and Trinity, her heroes. Girls on the ship, yet Trinity was one of the best in the whole crew. Lena wished she could have met her. But now was now, and now, they were ready for their first mission.

 **The Mission.**

"Are you ready?" Morpheus asked. "Ready." said the three in unison. And suddenly, they were transported to the Matrix. They stood in front of the Empire State Building. Mike had always wanted to come here, and now here he was. "Remember, Justin said, "do not engage an agent." Lena and Mike nodded, like they understood. "Alright, let's do this."

They walked in, expecting a lot of guards and soldiers, when all they found was normal people walking. "Act casually," Lena ordered. There mission, was to find a device called the Changer, a machine that would allow them to make changes in the Matrix. If they received it, they would finally have the upper hand. They got to the elevator, and decided to take different floors. Justin wasn't far when he spotted an agent. Over his communication system, he told Mike and Lena, "I've spotted an agent, surrounded by soldiers." "Do not engage," Lena ordered. "Yeah," replied Mike, "we wouldn't want you dead." "Be quiet Macho!" Justin and Lena quietly laughed. "Justin, wait for backup, said Lena." "But what if they have the Changer?" "It doesn't matter," Justin, who was very stressed at the moment, hade to make a quick decision, and the agent and soldiers were getting closer.

Finally, he grabbed his two shotguns out of his crate and lit them up. They didn't have time to dodge these. The Agent fell, but a few men started firing. Justin ducked for cover. Meanwhile, one floor below, were Mike and Lena. "Just one more floor," Mike said. "Gosh I hope he knows what he's doing. Truth be told, Justin had no clue what he doing. Justin got up again though and fired more. It was a great shootout, just as he ran out of ammo, Mike yelled behind him, "Get down!" Justin didn't hesitate he dropped, quick enough to confuse the soldiers. It was the right amount of time for Mike to fire off his M-60, and every soldier left alive fell. "Thanks guys," replied Justin.

"Don't ever do that again, we were ordered to not engage if we came across an agent." Yelled Lena. "But I killed him, he's gone, for now at least," Justin huffed. "Let's keep looking for the Changer thing," Mike chimed in. They kept running and dodging soldiers and agents, there was no time for play. "There!" Shouted Mike. They ran over to the computer. "It needs time to install the info." "We'll give you time," replied Justin and he armed his guns.

Just as he said it, agents and soldiers rounded the bend. Mike fired his M-60 as Justin shot his Tac-45s. All of a sudden, Mike, again, was hit in the arm. "Ugg," He groaned and Justin took him under his arm. "Lena!" Justin asked, how much longer?" "80 percent, it should take only another minute…" Lena was shot in the chest. "NO!" Justin screamed. Then he was shot in the torso multiple times before falling. No, he said, no, I can't be down, I'm not done." As soon as he said it, he felt a surge of power, and grabbed the M-60. Immediately, he started blowing them away.

Two of the agents ducked behind a wall, and Justin ran over to finish them off. His gun was to fast for them. Morpheus had told them that they could have powers, his was the ability to stay alive while being shot, as long as he believed.

He grabbed Lena and Mike, and bandaged them up. The Changer was finished, and Justin transported the information back to the real world. "How the [censored] did you do that?" Mike asked. "I kept on believing, in my mind, that I was alive, even though I should have been dead." "You did great Singe," Lena said, with a smile on her face. Justin liked to see her smile, after the hard life they had. They got out of the building, into a car, and drove south. Suddenly, a rocket blew the car up, sending, Mike, Lena, and Justin flying out. "Holy [censored]," said Lena. "Watch your mouth," said Justin as he sprawled on the ground. "Come on," Mike said, and they ran towards a high school


	2. Enter the Matrix

**Cassie Sullivan's POV**

It was Friday, the last day of school before Christmas Break. Hooray! Unfortunately, the day was a lot worse than expected.

The Mothership had been in the sky for ten days. That is, since two Wednesdays ago. My father believed that the Others were here to begin the evolution of the human race, again.

He was wrong. The Others were not here to evolve us, or to enslave us, or to corral us into cages. They were here to kill us. All of us.

And yet, there was one hope for the human race. That hope led beyond the other side of a red pill and a trip to wonderland. I didn't know that when the Others first came. In face, I and many others went through a whole lot of trouble involving the post-apocalyptic scenario and the creepy trust-no-one situation before we found the route to salvation among other human beings. But now, I suppose you want to hear what happened.

It is probably the last remaining record of humanity, and can probably go into the history books someday.

Anyways, where I left off, I was in English class on Friday and was poking around on my phone like a true 16-year-old, when some REALLY weird things happened. There was an explosion outside, and I watched three kids tumbling out of a car. They got up and started running towards the school.

Then, a voice came on the intercom. "We have three unknown civilians on campus. They are armed with deadly weapons. Please stay in your classrooms. This is a lockdown."

Utter panic ensued, with kids leaping out of windows to escape. My friend Lizbeth and I stayed slightly calmer than the rest of the class, instead heading to the backpack area and burying ourselves. We heard the teacher trying to restore order, when her voice was cut off. I peeked out from under the packs to see what she had done.

Standing there was a man wearing a grey suit. His brown hair was immaculately combed to the side, and he was wearing black shades. He took one look at me and pulled out a pistol.

"Stay down," he said.

"Never," Said a voice. Suddenly, one of the three kids jumped on him. But he was easily thrown off and smashed into the wall. "Ha ha ha, Mike French," he said. "Agent Oscar," replied the kid, whose name was apparently Mike. "You can't kill me, you are only a boy," said the tux guy. "My Punches will send you to the moon!" the boy ran to him and gave a terrific punch. The man sailed out of the school and through several buildings. "Yes whoo hoo!" the boy cheered said. He started doing a dance when a girl yelled his name far across the hall. "I'm on my way!" he replied" and just like that, he was out the door.

I decided that I was better off not coming out. "Cassie, what was that?" Lizbeth said shakily.

"Why the [censored] are you asking me?"

 **End of Chapter One**

 **Morpheus's POV**

"What are they doing?!" I asked myself. First, they disobeyed my orders and engaged agents. Second, they totally attracted the authorities by shooting up a high school. Lastly, they didn't shoot those girls under the backpacks! They could've turned into agents at any second. Sigh

"Zhantov, send some people in their to save them," Morpheus said.

"Out of the question," Zhantov said.

"Why?" Asked Morpheus.

"Look," said Zhantov. Morpheus took a look at the holomap of the land around Zion, only to see a huge swarm of robots approaching. _Oh…_ thought Morpheus.

"Um… what are you waiting for, Zhantov? Mobilize the defenses!" Morpheus yelled.

"Right away sir, right away!" said Zhantov, turning to his controls and barking orders into a mic. Meanwhile, Morpheus was mobilizing himself down to the armory, as quickly as he could. However, this errand was complicated by the bullet wound he had received to his leg recently. _If there's a God,_ he thought to himself, _may he levy all his curses upon bullets._ Suddenly his leg started to hurt even more.

Finally, after intense agony, he made it to the armory. He reached out to grab a gun, but decided against it cos he thought bullets were cursed. He grabbed a battleaxe instead. Directly afterward, he contacted the trio of children who were in the matrix.

"YOU GUYS ARE ALL IDIOTS!" he yelled.

"We're trying to focus!" Mike replied angrily. "What did we do?" Justin asked. Morpheus could hear gunfire coming from his general vicinity.

"You pointlessly risked your lives in engaging agents, you revealed your Matrix power, which was supposed to be secret…"

"You never told me it was secret!" Mike protested

"And Mike didn't shoot the two girls under the backpacks who would've turned into agents!"

"Um… I'll get back to you about that."

Morpheus sighed. "I'm coming to save you, okay?"

"We don't need to be saved," Lena said.

"Look out!" Justin yelled

"That's it, I'm going," stated Morpheus

 **Mike's POV**

Mike had little time to think as he ran towards Lena. He heard her scream, then blam, off like a rocket he shot. He also heroically saves 20 kids, like he'd always wanted to. As he got there he could see Lena, with a bloody face and tattered jacket and shirt. Justin was guarding her and got shot in the chest with the Desert Eagle.

"Justin!" He yelled. "I'm alright," he responded. He got up, and tried to fire his TAC-45s at the agent, but he just dodged them like they were nothing. Then, Mike ran, lifted the agent up, and tossed him up into the ceiling. When he came down, all it took was a bullet shot from Justin. "Thanks Mike," Justin said. "No problem man, you definitely needed me, Singe." Then, Mike was shot several times in the legs and once in the belly. "Mr. French," said the agent, standing over Mike, "you've made me and the other very angry, and now you must-"

But his voice was cut off as a dark stain started spreading on his shirt. He toppled over to reveal Morpheus. He bent down and pulled the thrown axe out of the Agent's back.

"Looks like you guys do need saving after all," he said.


End file.
